The Thing That New York Ate
By vpc
June 8th, 2010 |
Dine + Design

Veeder + Perman is blessed with great clients- and we’re not just being nice. They’re smart and funny and adventurous and they keep our lives very interesting.

Don’t take our word for it though. Our very first guest contributor, Davis & Warshow Executive President David Finkel, proves my point regularly with laugh-out-loud emails about his culinary adventures, and has agreed to let me share the latest, weirdest one with you.

After a small disagreement about the best Banh Mih place in town (see here) David emailed to say that he was thinking about going here:

Looks fairly unassuming, right?

Looks fairly unassuming, right?

David saw Sikgaek on Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel show, No Reservations. In the episode, Bourdain joins star chef David Chang for a Sikgaek specialty: so-fresh-it’s-still-wriggling octopus.  Angry (“No really, I was angry,” he said) that a neighbor had made it out to Flushing first for the fast-moving feast, he headed to Queens the following weekend.

David said: “In a nutshell, the meal was a good time but the food was just OK. The tentacle sashimi was fun and kind of scary- one of the suckers took a liking to my tongue. The experience is mostly textural, since the only flavor came from jalapenos, garlic and sesame oil.”

Click at your own risk.  It’s (not) alive but will get you anyway!


An octopus hot pot was more of the same- tentacle-y, but kind of bland and somewhat overcooked when all was said and done. Per David, this video/dinner is “not for the weak of heart.”

So, go at your own risk, or just watch the videos above in awe.

Sikgaek
161-29 Crocheron Ave.
Flushing, Queens, NY 11358

lisa